GUWAHATI: Three people have been arrested in connection with the murder of Chandranath Rath, personal assistant to Suvendu Adhikari, in a joint operation conducted by the police teams of West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, police reportedly said on Monday, May 11.
The accused, reportedly identified as Vishal Srivastava, Raj Singh and Mayank Mishra, were apprehended in Bihar and Uttar Pradesh following an intensive investigation led by a Special Investigation Team (SIT). According to reports, investigators tracked a UPI payment allegedly made by the assailants at a toll booth in Bally near Kolkata, which helped police trace the suspects.
Rath was shot dead at point-blank range on the night of May 6 while returning home to Madhyamgram in North 24 Parganas district. The incident reportedly took place between 10 PM and 10:10 PM, when Rath was seated in the front passenger seat of his SUV and was less than 200 metres away from his residence.
His driver, Buddhadeb Bera, sustained critical injuries in the attack and is currently undergoing treatment.
Police reportedly said that the accused will be produced before a court in Barasat on Monday. Investigators are also probing possible inter-state criminal links, with police teams dispatched to Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Odisha and Jharkhand as part of the ongoing investigation.
Reacting to the incident, Suvendu Adhikari termed the killing a “pre-planned” and “cold-blooded murder” and alleged that the attackers had conducted a recce of Rath’s movements for two to three days before carrying out the attack.
Adhikari further claimed that the political developments following the 2026 West Bengal Assembly election results may have triggered the murder. He had recently defeated Mamata Banerjee in the Bhabanipur constituency.